Largest machine tool for producing aerospace components

Citation

(1999), "Largest machine tool for producing aerospace components", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 71 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1999.12771cab.010

Largest machine tool for producing aerospace components

Aerospace technology >

Largest machine tool for producing aerospace components

Keywords Aerospace industry, Machine tools, Marwin

Currently in build at Marwin's Wolverhampton factory is a 3-axis CNC milling machine with an enormous bed measuring 45 metres in the X axis and seven metres in Y, larger than any machine in use within the aerospace industry worldwide. Ordered by British Aerospace Airbus, Broughton, near Chester at a cost of £3.5 million and due for delivery in January 2000, it will mill wing skins for the new Airbus A340-600 airliner.

The moving-gantry machine, based on Marwin's "Alumax" design (Plate 3), will have two parallel machining zones with working envelopes of 41 × 3.6 × 0.55 metres, each served by its own 85kW, 20,000 rev/min, vertical spindle. Twin Y axis configuration will allow simultaneous mirror-image machining of "as drawn" and "opposite hand" components. Contributing to high productivity will be 20 m/min machining feed rates and 1 m/s/s acceleration / deceleration, although the machine design allows for three times this figure.

Plate 3 A view of the existing Marwin triple-gantry, five-axis CNC Alumax vertical profiling machine at BAe Airbus, Chester, which has an 87m bed to allow six 70ft wing skin panels to be machined simultaneously

To ensure high accuracy feedback of X axis position to the control, Marwin is fitting laser axis scales along either side of the machine rather than the more usual metal tape or rack / resolver systems. Noteworthy also will be the use of ultrasonic probes for non-contact measurement of panel thickness. Tools in the two independent magazines will be coded for identification and life monitoring, and laser probing will be incorporated.

Further details from Marwin Production Systems Ltd, Tel: +44 (0) 1902 366633; Fax: +44 (0) 1902 366573.